Safe, abundant, high quality food is the standard consumers demand. Food production relies on a variety of agricultural technologies to ensure the growing population's dietary needs remain affordable, nutritious and readily available on grocery store shelves. Fungicides are one of these agricultural technologies which are available to the world community. Fungicides are agrochemical compounds which shield crops and foods from fungus and fungal diseases. Crops and food are constantly threatened by a variety of fungal organisms, which if left uncontrolled can cause ruined crops and devastated harvests. Although the sterol biosynthesis inhibitors are among the most effective fungicides available, the level of control of Erysiphe graminis achieved by said fungicides in current cereal crop production is variable and often no greater than 60%.
Therefore, new fungicidal methods and compositions are needed to provide improved control of, and protection from, phytopathogenic fungal disease.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method of synergistic fungal control which will effectively improve the performance of sterol biosynthesis inhibitor fungicides for the control of powdery mildew in cereal crop production.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved method of cereal crop protection against the ravages of powdery mildew infection and disease.
It is a further object of this invention to provide synergistic fungicidal compositions which are useful for improved control of mildew disease in cereal crop production.